This section provides background information that is not necessarily prior art.
Upon actuation of the clutch arrangement, for example, a positive connection can be produced between a rotating shaft, on the one hand, and an input shaft, an output shaft, a housing or a crown gear of a differential, or a gearwheel of a bevel gear, on the other hand. Devices of this kind can be used in the form of “disconnect systems” for decoupling parts of a drive train in a motor vehicle with selectable all-wheel drive, for example, thus allowing the connection between the primary axle or the drive unit, on the one hand, and the secondary axle, on the other hand, to be at least partially deactivated or interrupted in the case of two-wheel drive. In general, torque transmission can take place from the rotating shaft as the input element to said drive element as the output element or vice versa.
Where the directional terms “axial” and “radial” are used here in context, they refer to the axis of rotation of two clutch sections to be coupled, unless the circumstances of the individual case show it to be otherwise.
As compared with a hydraulic or pneumatic actuator, an electromagnet for actuating the clutch arrangement allows a particularly simple and low-cost construction. To intensify the magnetic force, the field coil of the solenoid can be formed around a yoke or a core consisting of a magnetizable material. There is generally an air gap between the armature and the field coil or a front stop surface of the yoke, the gap determining the maximum adjustment stroke.